Modern exhibition theaters make use of many different systems for projection and presentation. It is not uncommon for an auditorium to sport an On-Screen Advertising (OSA) system, a film projector, and a digital cinema projection system, all making use of the same lighting, audio system, projection screen, theatrical masking, and curtains as originally configured for use with a film (i.e., non-digital) projector. The digital cinema projection system is adjusted to approximate the film configuration, while the OSA system may often use a different video projector.
The various equipment or systems are often owned and operated by different entities. For example, the film projector is generally owned, maintained, and operated by the exhibitor or theatre, while digital cinema systems are often owned and maintained by financing organizations, but operated by the theatre. OSA systems are most often owned, maintained and operated by third-party advertising companies. Due to the number of systems, their aggregate complexity, their interdependence, and the diversity of ownership, operation, and maintenance responsibilities, maintaining an auditorium's presentation system to target quality levels is often a challenging process.
Quality control is important for maintaining the audience's perception of quality in a presentation. In an OSA system, presentation quality may affect the perception of advertisers' products, and by extension, the advertisers' willingness to pay for advertising services. For the feature presentation, a low quality presentation may suggest to the audience that a better quality experience may await them with a high definition television (HDTV)—and may, over time, results in a reduced attendance. Certain presentations, especially those in 3-dimension (3D), are keenly interested in certain alignments of a theatrical projection system, e.g., storytelling becomes confusing and difficult if hints and clues to characters' actions and intents are obscured due to image cropping. Some special effects achievable in 3D would fail if the masking crops the image too closely.
Unfortunately, the primary method for monitoring theatrical presentation quality is to survey or audit actual operations, which requires a technician to visit each auditorium at a time when displaying a test pattern and taking measurements does not conflict with normal business operations and presentation schedules, e.g., when the theatre is closed (and therefore difficult for the technician to visit). As a result, present-day projection system audits are rarely carried out.
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures.